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Women Vampires and Their Women Authors 1950–2000

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The Palgrave Handbook of the Vampire

Abstract

This chapter explores how, in vampire fiction by women from around 1950–2000 and beyond, women vampires are created as an imaginative weathervane for social, personal, and sexual freedoms. While some women writers of vampire fictions reinforce stereotypical representations of male vampires as charismatic romantic figures and women as focused on finding handsome vampire lovers, others embrace the insights offered by the growth of feminist views and activism during the period. They trouble norms of domestic and romantic conformity, some creating vampire women with new sexual energies and freedoms, even dangerous to unsuspecting, more conventional men. Some explore varieties of relationships, including same sex and community based, and simultaneously explore different modes of motherhood. The social, sexual, and relationship diversity of these vampire creations is sometimes at odds with and sometimes a reflection of the lives of their authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ICHEM, University of Bath, Bath, UK

    Gina Wisker

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  1. Gina Wisker
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  1. Poznań, Poland

    Simon Bacon

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© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

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Wisker, G. (2023). Women Vampires and Their Women Authors 1950–2000. In: Bacon, S. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of the Vampire. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82301-6_22-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82301-6_22-1

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-82301-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-82301-6

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